07/23
Paused Beltless Squat - Narrow Stance
135x5
135x5
225x4
225x4
315x4
365x2
415x5 RIR 3
GHR
2 x BW x 24
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Larsen
135x5
225x4
275x3
285x5 RIR 2
Seated Leg Curl
110x8
150x8
170x8
Standing Single Leg Curl
70x8
2x80x8
Slowly chipping away.
07/24
Conventional Deadlift - 2" Deficit (Reverse Mini Purple Band)
225x4
315x4
405x4
495x4
495x4
545x4
Barbell Row
225x5
315x5
365x5
395x5
Pullups
3 x BW x 14
Honestly, i just wanted to try out reverse banded deadlifting , it’s fun , I could see me doing this as a accessory since it just feels a bit like a rack pull but with full ROM, personally feel like there’s not much benefit for me outside of fucking around lol or if I wanted to get some more deadlifting in without obliterating my cns
07/26
Barbell Skullcrusher
45x10
95x10
115x10
135x5
135x5
150x10
95x20 Burnout
Incline DB Flye
65x8
75x8
2x85x10
Single Arm DB Lateral Raise - Lean Into Wall
2 x 30 x 18
Seated BTN Press
135x12
165x10
190x8
I was dying after this one lol, first time doing flyes in a long while, it felt weird, but definently had reps left in me. Shoulder pressing after all that was brutal
07/28
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Larsen
135x5
185x4
225x4
265x3
3x290x5
Hammer strength Incline Press
1 pps x 8
2 pps x 8
3 pps x 8
4 pps 2 x 8
2 pps x AMRAP
Sick as a dog rn but still got really good work in. Anything past 290x5 is an all time PR for the Larsen Press.
Hoping to hit 315x5 before going back to my regular bench setup
07/30
Paused Beltless Squat - Narrow Stance
135x6
225x5
315x4
365x2
405x1
425x5 RIR 2
Barbell Hyperextension
135x5
225x5
275x5
295x5
2x315x8
PR on hyperextensions, we’re getting somewhere.
Quick Training Notes
I listened to a podcast with John Hackk who said he did a ton of lunges and reverse lunges. It got me thinking.
Paused Squat is starting to get a bit intense going into the 6th week , definently getting into higher percentages. Enough so that I think it wouldn’t be wise to do 2x/wk pretty soon.
So to supplement on my second squat day , I’ll be starting to do barbell lunges instead of more paused squatting. I’ll graduate to reverse lunges when I feel progress slow down, that’ll pretty much be my progression for this variation.
Haven’t really been thinking too deeply into training lately. Random thought that popped up.
07/31
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Larsen
5 x 135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 4
245 x 2
2x275x5 RIR 3
Barbell Row
225 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 5 RIR 3
Dumbell Row
2x110x15
Very good trajectory right now in training. Row , Hamstring and Hyperextension Strength is on the up/maintaining , this is a very good sign.
08/01
Barbell Lunge
45x10
45x10
45x10
135x5
135x5
135 x 5 (nope)
Zercher Squat off Pins
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x5
315x5
365x1
405x1 RIR 6-7
Yeah so… Kinda went off the deep end here lol.
I tried doing Lunges , unfortunately unlike John my knee didn’t like those. Every set was pain.
For anyone who has done zerchers , I need some pointers and tips. It was my first time ever doing these in my life and I had no idea wtf I was doing.
Do I do them off pins? I had set them to right below parallel and did it that way. I see people doing a deadlift into a zercher , then people carrying it out of the rack and squatting and some people off the pins, which is the right way?
Other question, what do you feel the zercher hits the most , muscle group wise? What do you think it helped you with?
I’d like to do these as a secondary movement since lunges might not work out. It’s fun and I enjoyed it
First time and doing a rep for 405, think you should be giving advice out my man.
I used to do them a lot when I had lower back issues. I did them from rack which was at just below chest height. That way I could just walk into them and go. I used to stick on arm wraps as well once I got past a couple of plates each side.
I think they’re a gnarly exercise. You get some benefit from just toughing it out but I used to feel it working my core, upper back and of course quads.
First time and doing a rep for 405, think you should be giving advice out my man.
Haha, thanks. Honestly I think it’s just strength that is carrying over from everything else I do, not much advice to give outside of be strong 
Thanks for the other pointers and experiences. I did notice it hit the Upper Back freaking hard, not so much my quads but my Glutes, Traps, Forearms for sure.
I might actually start a training block with Zerchers, just use the next few weeks at light weight to get the motor pattern down before structuring it. To me it just feels like a really intense rack pull with some extra steps involved lol. I kept asking a bunch of dudes at the gym what they think about it and whether or not it’d help develop strength towards the main lifts but no one really had an answer.
The main thing that kept being brought up was a bicep tear, Dunno if the risk to reward is worth it, but you are right with the toughing it out part, if you ignore the weight digging into your arms, it’s not that difficult to hold
I guess I’ll just figure that out for myself and report back lol
Where did you position your hands? I found that clasping my hands together and bringing elbows inside of knees similar to a goblet squat put more of an emphasis on my quads.
I’d say yes, like I said when I used it as a replacement for back squat when I was having lower back issues. I think it will have some carryover for deadlift and possibly to a lesser extent the squat. Like we’ve said I think the main thing it builds is some toughness. I don’t think in my time in gyms I ever saw anyone ever doing it.
Where did you position your hands?
I had them close to clasped but I was down low and pulling the bar into my stomach, and they weren’t very close together. It was letting me round my upper back more and tipped me forward way more, which is generally my strongest position for a pull
I think it will have some carryover for deadlift and possibly to a lesser extent the squat.
I’m thinking the same. It felt more like a deadlift centric movement than it does for the squat.
08/08
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Larsen
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 4
185 x 4
225 x 2
250 x 2
275 x 2
295 x 2
2 x 315 x 2
280 x 5
Plate Loaded Incline Press
2 pps x 10
3 pps x 10
4 pps x 10
Dips
BW
2 Sets of 15 Reps
Got a little burnt out , but we’re back at it.
Going to start throwing in Dips, looking to add weight to this eventually. Rarely ever train them like i do Pullups, last time I did them was like a year ago… I’m hoping for some good progress on this as I get more consistent with it. Had a ton of reps left.
08/09
Beltless Zercher Squat - Walked Out
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 5
Beltless Paused Squat - Narrow Stance
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1
445 x 3
Pullups
BW
2 Sets of 20 Reps
I decided to walk out my zerchers , it was intense as fuck lol. Monster session all around, gonna take a couple days off after this one.
Strong lifting!!
August 14th
Paused Beltless Squat - Narrow Stance
135 x 5
225 x 4
315 x 3
365 x 2
405 x 1
440 x 1
465 x 1 RIR 3
Barbell Hyperextension
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 4
315 x 2
340 x 5 RIR 2
Good session. 465 for a single felt fairly easy, was not expecting that. I’ll be doing singles for a few weeks. Next up on the list is Paused Wide Stance Squats or Box Squatting.
I did a little test with 315 a couple days ago using my belt and wraps just to see how it’d feel in my regular setup and oh man it was flying up so fast that I had lost my balance and almost folded backwards haha.
It felt 10x easier, the difference in ROM was noticable, and removing the belt + wraps and adding a pause the last few months has been the best thing I’ve done personally, definitely can thank the man Ed Coan for that
August 15th
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Larsen
135 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 4
225 x 3
255 x 2
285 x 5
295 x 5 RIR 1
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Spoto Larsen
2 x 185 x 10
Larsen Press was strong today, had an extra rep left, can probably move up to 300 for a set of 5 next week, still making 315x5 my end goal.
After that , I’ll be switching to doing a Spoto Larsen Press variation, just getting my body used to the feeling and groove.
My wrist strength is catching up nicely, a little over 5 weeks without any wraps and it’s starting to feel natural without them
August 16th
Conventional Beltless Deadlift - 2" Deficit
225 x 4
315 x 4
405 x 4
2 x 500 x 5
Andrew Hause Barbell Row
315 x 5
365 x 5
405 x 10
Lat Pulldown - Deadlift Grip
100 x 8
160 x 8
3 x 220 x 8
Nice 2 Rep PR on my rows.
Deadlifts felt a little weird, it’s been about a month since doing any type of deficit pull. I can tell I lost some of my power, I’m a little rusty. Some of this could also be from the fact I did obliterate my back 2 Days ago with hyperextensions.
500 x 5 is still a really good start point since I had reps left here. My goals on the 2" Deficit is 565x5 and 585x4, which would match my 1" Deficit PR.
August 17th
Paused Bench Press - Close Grip Spoto Larsen
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 4
205 x 1
2 x 225 x 10 RIR 4-5
I’m really liking this variation. It takes tremendous effort to stay stable, brace correctly and has some insane TUT by pausing an inch off my chest.
225 is a really good start point, won’t be pushing it super hard for a few weeks. Using this as a beneficial accessory as I recover from yesterday and my Larsen’s on Thursday.
Training Recap
Been awhile since I did one of these. Had to scroll back into my log to see where all this started. I think (not sure) that this is Week 5, going into 6.
Nutrition/Recovery Notes
Okay not going to lie , nutrition has been crap. I haven’t tracked macros this entire time or logged into MFP (goodbye streak), I do periodically weigh in, and somehow I’m still maintaining at 225, no change here at least. I don’t have a lot of money right now, so it’s mainly been Chips, McDonald’s Reward Deals, Sandwiches and whatever monstrosity I can slap together in the fridge.
Recovery has been pretty good despite this, feel a little stiff some days but most days I’m feeling loose and pain free, no injuries to note.
Training
Still training with a lot higher frequency. I always seem to gravitate towards this type of training, no matter how hard I try to switch things up and lower the training days, maybe that’s my body telling me something.
Unlike in the past, I’m taking a totally different approach by pretty much cutting out a majority of my accessory work, but I am keeping important indicator lifts in, this seems to average out nicely to 2, maybe 3 lifts per session.
It didn’t seem like a lot of volume to me, but once I start visualizing it in my head and also putting it down in writing, I realize just how much tonnage and work I’m doing across 6-7 days a week.
This has made fatigue a lot more manageable.
I’m still using Ed Coan’s Philosophy of training weaknesses with specificity and building up that “Suit of Armor”, I am still loving his approach, and truly do find the love and joy in making something even harder, knowing it’ll benefit me in the long run, I still feel like a newbie in his first year of lifting by training this way.
Sqwuat
I’m not giving up on Lunges. I’ve done zerchers the last couple of weeks and they are fun but I actually don’t think this is a variation that is going to be smart for me to do, and also something that causes more strain than benefit, it feels like it’s ripping my shoulders out once I get up to 365+.
So much for me wanting to run a block of Zerchers. Guess you can’t learn until you try lol.
Tomorrow I’m going to give Lunges a chance again, really would like these to be a secondary accessory, I feel like this would have potential as a solid indicator lift for me, a lot better than a single leg leg press. I’m going to see if wrapping up my knees will help.
Box Squatting is also on the list, haven’t done that in a quick minute, so I’m going to be getting back on those soon.
Other Notes
Happy with how training is going, PRs are being hit.
Squat Volume needs to be bumped up a tad bit, not by much.